Testing a PSU is not something easy. We put our system under what can be considered a heavy user load, using extreme CPU and graphics 3D use with 3D Mark 06 v1.0.2 and Sisoft Sandra 2007 burn-in tests. Our test PC setup was as follows:

OCZ 600W PSU

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ AM2

ASUS M2N32Pro WS

2GB Crucial PC-8000

1xWD 80JB SATA I

1xSeagate 80GB SATAII

All PSU ratings were monitored with Everest Ultimate Edition v3.0 and plotted with Microsoft Excel.

The following table lists the industry wide specifications for DC Output Voltage Regulation.

After running 3D Mark 06, the monitored outputs showed the deviation experienced by each rail during the stress tests:

A summary of the above graphs can be found in the following table:

Minimum

Maximum

Average

CPU1

%

0

100

54,9

CPU2

%

0

100

39,2

CPU Core

V

1,34

1,34

1,34

+3.3 V

V

3,25

3,26

3,25

+5 V

V

4,89

4,92

4,92

+12 V

V

12,22

12,29

12,27

The results are very good. All values are within standards, while even at full load, the voltage only changes by 0.01~0.07V. Adding a second VGA card on your system will put an additional load on the PSU.

Let's now see Sandra 2007 Burn-In Test results:

A summary of the above graphs can be found in the following table:

Minimum

Maximum

Average

CPU1

%

0

100

47,0

CPU2

%

0

100

47,3

CPU Core

V

1,34

1,34

1,34

+3.3 V

V

3,25

3,26

3,26

+5 V

V

4,89

4,92

4,92

+12 V

V

12,22

12,35

12,29

The results again are very good. All values are within the standards. Under full load, we see that the +12V rail deviates from 12.22 to 12.35, which is a difference of 0.13V or 1.06%, again within standards. In all cases, the CPU core was rock solid at 1.34V.